Refugee resettlement working in Hamden

By Clare Dignan

Updated
7:54 pm EST, Friday, February 9, 2018

HAMDEN — About a year ago, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order that banned Syrians from taking refuge in the U.S., halted the U.S. refugee resettlement program and blocked people from a handful of countries from entering.

This action happened as the Spring Glen Alliance for Refugee Resettlement and Spring Glen Church were preparing to welcome a refugee family from Syria. Everything was in order for the family to come the night Trump signed the order, the Rev. Jack Davidson said.

“That hit us really hard because there was a direct experience of the trauma and angst and pain that is caused when ignorance and fear are used as political tools,” Davidson said.

The family was finally able to arrive a month later and “they’ve been a blessing for our community. We believe, as people of compassion and of faith, we are committed to not building walls, but breaking them down, to open our doors as wide as possible and let people find sanctuary and hope. It’s not unique to this church but is common amongst the entire town.”

The Trump Administration has sought to change immigration policy in this country in part because the “current immigration system jeopardizes America’s national security and public safety,” according to whitehouse.gov.

About 800 refugees arrive in Connecticut each year, according to Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, a refugee resettlement agency based in New Haven. About half of all the refugees who come to the state are welcomed by IRIS and as of this year, the organization will be partnering with the town to help refugees resettle in Hamden.

The town is already a place where refugees come for work and community, said Hamden Economic Development Director Dale Kroop, who is also executive director of the nonprofit Hamden New Colony Development Corp, which works on economic development, community building, redevelopment and workforce development. The organization has begun a partnership with IRIS to resettle refugees in the area.

During the recent event, “Hamden Welcomes,” community members and town officials attended in support of refugee resettlement, but Kroop made a point that the event was not sponsored or officially endorsed by the town to make sure the event wasn’t politically influenced.

“The people of Hamden welcome, which are the churches, the chamber of commerce, the businesses,” Kroop said. “Everything we did was as a community, not as a town government.”

About half of the world’s refugees come from just three countries — Syria, South Sudan and Afghanistan. They are people who have been forced to flee their countries because of persecution, war, or violence. When refugees connect with IRIS, the organization becomes their primary resource as they begin to rebuild their lives, but coming isn’t easy.

“Refugees oversees go through the most rigorous screening process in the world, which is handled by the Department of Homeland Security,” IRIS Executive Director Chris George said. “It is the most difficult way for anyone to enter the U.S.”

“IRIS works with people coming from Iraq, Congo, Sudan who have every level of skill set, but don’t have are any contacts beyond IRIS, said Will Kneerim, director of Employment & Education Services for IRIS. When refugees arrive, IRIS case managers greet them and take them to apartments rented by IRIS and furnished with donated furniture where they are served a warm, culturally appropriate meal.

The organization provides a wide array of services to refugees, including daily English lessons, education and youth programs, access to health care and a thorough multiday cultural orientation. IRIS also works to help refugees find employment.

“A job isn’t just about getting up and going to work,” state Commissioner of Labor Scott Jackson said. “A job is about making a place for you in your community. “And we don’t care how you got here. You are here and you are us.”

“It’s our finest most noble tradition, our best foreign policy,” George said, adding, though, that the organization is dealing with a government that doesn’t support refugee resettlement. “They’re doing their best to not only reduce the amount of refugees coming to this country but also dismantle the refugee resettlement at work.

”They want to weaken IRIS,” he said. “They might be able to reduce the number of refugees coming to the United States and they might cut federal funding that comes to refugee resettlement programs and there might be some refugee agencies shutting down, laying off staff, but there’s one thing they cannot stop us from doing and that’s spreading the word, celebrating refugee resettlement.”

Kroop said people are passionate about the issue of refugee resettlement because many can identify with discrimination, comparing the refugee experience to the immigrant experience.

“A lot of the time, it’s not terribly different how we’ve treated immigrants and refugees. All immigrants were treated like garbage.”